Designing a Commissioned Quilt

After absorbing all the inspiration, I started making some rough sketches on pencil getting some ideas down. The idea of music just felt like flowing lines, no hard edges. The church itself has a modern, clean, unadorned atmosphere with many straight lines so flowing lines would make a nice contrast.

After getting some quick ideas on paper, I started sketching a more polished sketch to show the client. The fist sketches I show are always a line drawing in black and white. I feel that people generally get too hung up on colors and do not pay attention to the design itself. It is also faster for me so I don't waste too much time on a design the client is not going to like. After the client sees the initial deign, I get a better idea of what they are looking for and can focus on developing what they want. Here are some of the sketches I did and presented in chronological order.

After two or three meetings, we arrived at the final design. It may change a little once I start building it but this is what I'm going to work with.

Clif composes music on the piano so that had to be present. At first I designed four random figures representing the congregation. The client asked for the people to show diversity so I included different ages and abilities. One his most popular songs is called Welcome, Welcome. I thought that phrase not only alludes to the song but it also represents the warm, inclusive environment of the church.

Now that the design is finalized, I got it printed the finished size so I can make the pattern. Since I got a print in the finished size, the client wanted to see how it would look in the space (and me too). I took it to the church and we hung it in place. Clif happened to be in the church that day so we had to do some maneuvering. I admit, I'm a little intimidated by the size but it looks really good on the wall. If it was any smaller, it would get lost on the huge wall.

And now I start sewing...